Blackberry Jam (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Twenty Four

   "Sorry," Draco mumbled, crouching down with a freshly loaded brush. "I'll pay more attention."

Harry balled his free fist in frustration. Why was he now the villain? "You don't have to do this at all you know," he griped.

"Well you're the one who volunteered to chores on his birthday," Draco shot back, not looking up.

Harry felt the hot prick of tears at the back of his eyes, but resolutely forced them back. "It's not like my birthday was ever going to be anything special anyway," he said, his voice furiously calm.

He felt more than saw Draco look up at him. "Why would you say that?" he asked, and Harry shrugged, unable to quell his own misery within himself for much longer.

"It's a Monday," he all but growled. And it was, they had suffered through a morning's lessons, and then come out in the afternoon sunshine to start the paint job. "Monday birthdays are useless. Besides," he said, getting to his real bugbear. "You often see Theo on Mondays."

There was a slightly pregnant pause, in which time the only sound was Harry's paint brush slapping angrily against the wall. "So?" Draco asked slowly. "What does Theo have to do with this?"

"I figured you would be seeing him," Harry snapped. Slap, slide, slide. Slap, slide, slide.

"On your birthday?" Draco said.

It was the fact his voice was sad, that was what Harry thought maybe broke him. That he was hurt. "I thought I'd be doing you a favour," he snarled, blinking back the tears that threatened again and plunging his brush so far into the paint tin he almost coated his fingers too. "I thought I'd do some work, and you could run off on the bus, and everyone would be happier."

Draco had stood up now, and rested his brush on top of the pot. "You thought I would ignore your birthday?" he asked, a steely tone to his voice that Harry didn't like.

"Draco, I'm done," he said. "I don't want you pretending to be my friend when it's clearly...not what you want." He bit his words out, blurry vision focused on the bricks in front of him. "It's insulting."

"Insulting?"

There was no mistaking the anger there, but that just made Harry even more distraught. "Yes, insulting!" he barked, finally turning to face his former best friend. "I did something...terrible...unforgivable, but I told you I was sorry, and I though you believed me!" He threw his brush down, not caring that it splattered the grass. Grass would grow, could be replaced. Other things were not so fortunate. "But you've just drifted away slowly instead, why couldn't you just be honest with me!"

"Honest? Honest!" Draco cried. "What's this sudden obsession with honesty!"

"Because I was honest, I said I didn't know why I did what I did, that it sickened me, that I had no control, and yet you won't stop judging me for it!" He gasped for air, still furiously blinking back tears but they seemed determined to fall anyway. "Theo's like you, he's rich and he's normal, so why in God's name are you here painting this stupid house with me?"

"Because we're friends," Draco shouted. "And although you've been an insufferable berk for months, I thought maybe that would change today, that you might throw off this awful grump you've been wallowing in."

"I'm not in a grump!" Harry cried, incredulous.

Draco folded his arms. "If we're being honest. Yes. You are. And I'm tired of it."

"You're..." Harry spluttered. "You're tired of it!" He jammed his hands into his hair, vibrating with rage. "Of course, if you're tired of something, you can leave, move on to the next thing, that's just what it's like for you people isn't it?"

"What people!" Draco demanded. "Harry, this is ridiculous – you wanted to paint the bloody house, rather than behaving like a normal person and celebrating, so I painted the house with you. And now, what? You think I'm doing this to punish you or something?"

"I don't know WHY you're doing this!" Harry bellowed, hurt slicing through him like a knife. "But we both know there's something definitely NOT normal about me, so why don't you just admit it, and BUGGER OFF!"

"Fucking hell Harry," he swore, and even Harry sucked in a shocked gasp at that. That wasn't a word they ever used. "We live together, why are you making this so awkward?"

"Just be honest, and admit what I did was unforgivable," Harry gnashed through his teeth.

"I don't care about what happened in the bloody forest," Draco shot back. "I care that you've been an utter arse for weeks, months! I'm sick and tired of treating you like a baby, so I thought if I gave you some space and saw Theo more, you'd snap out of it!"

Harry seethed. "Don't," he snarled. "Don't put this on me, have some respect, if only a little, you owe me that."

"What else am I supposed to do!" Draco yelled, and a few birds hopped from branch to branch in agitation above their heads. "Someone has to talk some sense into you!"

"Oh," Harry said, his mocking tone clear. "You want common sense, you want honesty?" He gave Draco a savage smile. "You're a pretty rich boy that wouldn't have lasted five minutes without me in this town. I'm sorry I ever thought you were important at all."

"And you're a self-involved," Draco snarled. "Jumped up, half-blind idiot who will never be a pilot!"